London Glam: Racing to the Future

By: Jane Evison

Posted: September 6, 2007

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The London College of Fashion (LCF), which offers many courses for the fashion and beauty business, opened its doors to the industry in early July for its Graduate 2007 exhibition—an opportunity for new fashion graduates to show and discuss their work with prospective employers. LCF also announced the launch of a new range of natural cosmetics courses to run in conjunction with How2doBeauty, designed for those working in beauty therapy spas or hair salons who would like to provide their clients with a bespoke natural cosmetic treatment. The course, developed and taught by Judi Beerling and Joseph Hunwick, is designed to provide an insight into the world of natural cosmetic products and the science underlying their creation, with further details available at www.fashion.arts.ac.uk.

At the Races

In June, I hopped across the Channel to France for the inauguration of the Alcan Packaging Beauty facility at Parigné-L’Eveque, which just happened to coincide with the running of the 24-hour endurance race in nearby Le Mans. For the uninitiated, this is a competition for racing cars where 55 teams of drivers compete to drive their car around a 14 km circuit over a period of 24 hours. Crazy, but very exciting.

The theme of speed began with an early start on the TGV from Paris to Le Mans. Then a short car journey to the Parigné factory, where presentations on Alcan’s activities and business sectors followed. The new factory is particularly focused on production of transparent plastic components for the beauty and perfume industries. Following a gourmet lunch, where the menu did not do justice to the visual artistry of the food, guests were treated to a tour of the factory facilities and given time to interact with the creative team. It was fascinating to watch as intricate bottle tops came off the production conveyor belts to be carefully checked and packed. The day ended with a special visit to the practicing session at Le Mans, as guests of Team Oreca. This included tours of the paddock and the pit area where the team prepared the three cars entered. Unfortunately not even the French could avoid the horrible wet weather but the rain certainly did not spoil the day.